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Southwest Air dumping DTW?

Was a bit shocked today when I tried to book a direct flight from LAS to DTW on Southwest Air and found that not only are there no more direct flights, but every flight there requires a change of planes somewhere.

With a crippled wife, a direct flight is a godsend. Used to use Southwest all the time. However, I booked a direct round trip flight on Frontier for pretty much the same time period I wanted (Sept 28 to Oct 10).

Was a bit shocked today when I tried to book a direct flight from LAS to DTW on Southwest Air and found that not only are there no more direct flights, but every flight there requires a change of planes somewhere.

With a crippled wife, a direct flight is a godsend. Used to use Southwest all the time. However, I booked a direct round trip flight on Frontier for pretty much the same time period I wanted (Sept 28 to Oct 10).

Anybody know when or why SW said poop on DTW?

Southwest has been forced to cancel a significant number of their flights because of the grounding of their 737max planes. Routes such as DTW-Vegas that overfly their other hubs are often the first to go, as the airline can still route passengers from A to B, albeit with a connection.

There is also a lot of competition on the Vegas route, with Delta, Frontier, and Spirit all offering direct flights. Given the competition, and the likely lower profits that result, Southwest probably saw less value in maintaining the DTW-Vegas route compared to other options.

Note Southwest does still offer some direct flights between Vegas and DTW, but the frequency of those flights may have decreased.

changed reservations

I've had problems related to this I'm sure, but I've made two long flight reservations recently on routes that are difficult to get good times on anyway. Within a day of each one, I got rescheduled onto TERRIBLE time flights. It does seem they'd be able to get the right schedules loaded on their reservation system to avoid this customer service nightmare.

Originally Posted by Atticus

Southwest has been forced to cancel a significant number of their flights because of the grounding of their 737max planes. Routes such as DTW-Vegas that overfly their other hubs are often the first to go, as the airline can still route passengers from A to B, albeit with a connection.

There is also a lot of competition on the Vegas route, with Delta, Frontier, and Spirit all offering direct flights. Given the competition, and the likely lower profits that result, Southwest probably saw less value in maintaining the DTW-Vegas route compared to other options.

Note Southwest does still offer some direct flights between Vegas and DTW, but the frequency of those flights may have decreased.

Southwest has been forced to cancel a significant number of their flights because of the grounding of their 737max planes. Routes such as DTW-Vegas that overfly their other hubs are often the first to go, as the airline can still route passengers from A to B, albeit with a connection.

There is also a lot of competition on the Vegas route, with Delta, Frontier, and Spirit all offering direct flights. Given the competition, and the likely lower profits that result, Southwest probably saw less value in maintaining the DTW-Vegas route compared to other options.

Note Southwest does still offer some direct flights between Vegas and DTW, but the frequency of those flights may have decreased.

Yep. Roughly 5% of Southwest's fleet is 737 Max planes. Of the "big four" US airlines, that's the highest percentage.

Losing frequency on DTW-LAS flights is unfortunate, but it could be worse. Southwest is pulling out of Newark completely this fall. Newark was never Southwest's strongest market, but the 737 Max groundings have certainly accelerated the end of service.

I've flown to LAS from DTW approximately three times in the past decade, utilizing Southwest every time. In each instance, I've had layovers both on the way there as well as my return, so consider yourself lucky. When it comes to indirect flights, Southwest is king! But bags fly free! 🙂

What are the dates? It could be that the route is seasonal. LAS-DTW wasn't on their list of recent route cancellations. I also see that there is a non-stop from LAS to DTW operating today (departing about 1.5 hours from now).

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